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Memorial of Saint Benedict

Date:

Tue, 07/11/2017

Author:

Rev. Msgr. Donald Enzweiler

There is work to be done. Human survival requires work.
Food must be gathered. Shelter must be provided.
Clothing is needed. Protection is needed. Repair is needed because of wear and tear.
There are forces that destroy: earthquakes, storms, fires.
There is always a need for rebuilding, expanding.

Who will do the work? And not only “who will do the work?” but “who will do the work well?”
And even more so, “who will do the work that is helpful, beneficial,
work that contributes to goodness, justice, truth, and the common good?”

Since the time of the Industrial Revolution, human power, human labor,
has been replaced with mechanical power and mechanical labor.
This presents a philosophical dilemma of sorts.
As human beings where do we find our purpose?
And what about the work machines will never be able to do?
If all God wanted was to get certain work done
He could have created machines from the beginning, not even bothered with human beings.
And now, as we face a technological revolution,
is our purpose as human beings to build machines?
To what ends? To make life more comfortable and convenient?

Divine work, God’s work, is that of salvation….
freeing humanity, freeing the world from the power and the consequences of evil.
This is what we see Jesus doing throughout the Gospels:
proclaiming, revealing, healing, freeing, teaching, guiding, inviting.
God’s work is the work of love. It is to create and to bring life, sustain life.
This is the theme that runs through the Scriptures from the Book of Genesis
to the Book of Revelation.

God’s work is the work of love.
The work of love builds up what is good. It unites heaven and earth.
It unites what is divine with what is human.
The work of Christ, the work of the Spirit, is the work of love.

As Christians there are three things of great significance as far as the purpose of life:
living according to the order of creation; service of God; and works of love.
None of these can be delegated to machines.
No matter how many machines take over human labor,
these will never be accomplished mechanically, for they are properly human.

In a recently aired program on artificial intelligence
one of the scientists being interviewed stated:
“eventually artificial intelligence will be able to do everything a human being can do…and even more.”
This didn’t set to well with me. Personally I don’t think it’s possible.
Some tout this as the height of human achievement.
I tout it as the height of human hubris. A modern “tower of Babel”.
Artificial intelligence will never be spiritual. It will never have a soul.
Can it serve some good? Surely it can. It can serve in the betterment of the human condition.
But it will never replace God or the purpose of human existence.

There is work to be done. It will always need to be done. It is the work of love.
In order to do such work we must believe in the power of love….we must believe in God.
The work of love is the work of Jesus Christ. It is the work of his church.

Today’s prayer: “O Lord, continue to instruct us in the ways of Your love. Amen!”